Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest: A look at Round Two

As you may know, Amazon.com’s Breakthrough Novel competition has moved on to the second round. Up to 5,000 novelists entered each of two categories: General Fiction and Young Adult. Only 1,000 in each field, including my own Chain Gang Elementary, made the first cut. It will be down to 250 in the next round. The two ultimate winners get a $15,000 contract with Penguin to publish their works. For more information, and to see a list of writers who survived the first round, check out the competition website.

Good luck to all, but a word of warning: It’s about to get real. Here’s a scene from last year’s competition.